Maximilian Affair: Viva Juarez!

I'm really not quite sure where the last two months have gone... I have not been slacking and a Kingdom of Italy army for a Sharp Practice event at BIG at the end of June is coming along nicely (expect photos soon) and money has been splashed on Stargrave. The easing of lockdown rules next week means that Tuesday will see my first gaming in six months, hopefully I'll remember the rules!

One thing I'd like to get up and running, over the summer possibly, would be some Maximilian Affair games using Rebels & Patriots and I was excited to see yesterday that The Virtual Armchair General has released two sourcebooks called Viva Juarez! which given the mass of information in their Sudan volumes I just had to have. Unfortunately the TVAG website is not (shall we say) very 21st century and whilst I was not put off by the $30 and $40 price per volume (given the excellent Sudan volumes) the probability of another $45 for postage and Lord knows what the Post Office would bill for VAT, duty and their "admin fee' was off putting (and I couldn't find an order button to push on the TVAG website!)

My 'Eureka' moment was recalling I'd picked up the Sudan volumes off Amazon and whilst not expecting them to have them yet (or at all) I was pleasantly surprised to find they had both Volume One (for £21.45) and Volume Two (for £28.60), post free.

They will be in my hands tomorrow... :-)

Maximilian Affair: Mexican Republican State Militia

A handful of new figures have been added to my existing eight Mexican State militia painted some seven years ago to give me a unit of 12 for Rebels and Patriots.

The new figures are from Gringo 40's with an odd Foundry figure I found hanging around. Again the Gringo figures are a bit taller but painted up seem to fit in ok.

Maximilian Affair: Mexican Republican Infantry

Having painted up three units for the Imperials for Rebels and Patriots I thought I better crack on with some Mexican Republican forces so painted up two units of Mexican Republican Infantry...

Their white linen field uniform was very simple, indeed the look of it is practically identical to the US Union one so a simple paint job can see ACW figures drafted in to finish off units as I have done here.

The two units are a mix of old Foundry figures (from the Mark Copplestone sculpted Old West range)....

A handful of Gringo 40's I had bought...

And some new(ish) Perry plastic ACW who padded out the unit cheaply and provided me with another officer.

There is some noticeable size difference between the manufacturers when unpainted (the Gringo figures are very tall) but with consistent painting and basing they seem to work well together.

Maximilian Affair: Egyptian Auxiliary Corps (19e Régiment de Ligne)

One of the most interesting units of the whole Mexican Adventure has to be the Egyptian Auxiliary Corps, a battalion of Egyptian (Sudanese) infantry who served under French command with distinction in the Veracruz region from 1863 to 67. The bizarreness of having Egyptian troops fighting under French command to put an Austrian Archduke on the Mexican throne meant I had to include a unit of them in my Rebels and Patriots Imperial army...

Whilst Gringo 40's produce some figures, they are in a marching pose and I'm not 100% sure the trousers they are sculpted in are correct (most sources I found seem to show them in baggy Zouave style ones). Also I didn't really want to spend much more money on this project so I rescued a box of Perry Miniatures plastic ACW from the attic to see how close they were uniform wise to the Egyptians.

The main difference was the ACW figures wearing the distinctive short jacket, so I carefully carved that away and removed any obvious knife scraps on the torsos by painting on some liquid cement. I'm not 100% sure the officer is correctly uniformed. It may be the Egyptian officers wore a similar white uniform as the rank and file, but I like the contrast with the officer leading them in a French style blue uniform with fez.

At the end of the day the overal result was decent enough and I am happy with this somewhat exotic unit now added to my Imperial army...

Maximilian Affair: French Régiment de Ligne

The second Rebels and Patriots unit for my Maximillian Affair project, a unit of Régiment de Ligne, who will be treated as Light Infantry in game terms.

The figures are the rest of my Foundry legionnaires, but painted up as Line Infantry. The uniforms are basically the same, the only real difference being the yellow piping rather than red. I decided with these guys to include any figures with uncovered kepis and paint their trousers in the winter red issue, as opposed to the summer white in which my Régiment Étranger are painted.

Some where painted from scratch, some just having their faces, piping and trousers repainted from the original paint job seven years ago.

Maximilian Affair: French Régiment Étranger

It's been just over seven years since I last did any work on my Maximilian Affair project, but with the enforced lockdown and much fun having been had with Rebels and Patriots, I decided to review the project and see how practical it would be to raise a couple of forces for it (and possibly Sharp Practice) from what I had.

Before moving on to other things I'd painted 15 French legionnaires from Foundry so adding what was unpainted I found I had enough for two 12 figure French infantry units. Rather than have two units of Régiment Étranger, I decided to keep one as legionnaires (with white summer trousers and covered kepis were modelled) and make the second up as regular French infantry (with red trousers and uncovered kepis if worn).

The Régiment Étranger proved the easier to finish as I had only one left in a white covered kepi to paint up, although I did repaint all the faces. It was an interesting exercise trying to recreate painting and basing techniques and colours from seven years ago, though I think I have got away with it (the middle one is the one painted this week, the two either side in 2013...).

Maximillian Affair: Mexican Republican Infantry

It's been a little while since I painted anything for the Maximillian Affair project, but when ordering the 2mm SF from Irregular Miniatures, I noted that they had just released a 28mm Maximillian range. There were no photos at the time (there are now) so I ordered three Jurista infantry to see what they were like.

Ok, they are not as good as the Foundry models I have, but I was not expecting that. However, for 90p a figure, they are more than acceptable, being at a level with much of the Old Glory range. They will provide a cheap option for bulking out Republican units, especially as Irregular offer discounted unit packs.

As you can see from this photo, size wise, they are fractionally taller than the Foundry figures I painted last year, but not to the point that they cannot be mixed.

Painting Target: 488/1000

“After We Fire, Follow Me!"

Following on from the nine I completed in "French Foreign Legion Month", here are eight more of the Foundry Camerone legionnaires painted up.

Painting techniques the same as previous, white undercoat, dip, then three layer painting of other areas, seems to work quite well.

Only eight more to go...

Maximilian Affair painted running total:

15/23 French foot

17/26 Mexican foot

(FFL Month) Los Chinacas Rojas II

Whilst I have made good progress on the next batch of the Camerone set Foundry French Foreign Legionnaires I doubt they will be finished today without rushing them. I did however manage to finish the other five Republican Irregular Cavalry to join the three finished yesterday...

The same technique was used on them as the first three Chinacas Rojas...



Unfortunately I've come up a bit short on finishing the whole set of miniatures this month having lost last weekend to domestic pressures, however as there are only a few left I will keep them on the workbench to try and fit in between what is planned for March!

Maximilian Affair painted running total: 

17/26 Mexican foot
9/25 French foot

(FFL Month) Los Chinacas Rojas

These are the first of the (dismounted) irregular Republican cavalry. They typically wore the vaquero Mexican cowboy costume but some uniform touches such as red lance pennants and occasionally jackets were seen.

Not all the cavalry will have red jackets but these three have. As with previous figures I undercoated them white before basecoating the brown, red and flesh areas before giving them a coat of Strong Tone dip. Then I painted the rest of the figures up using standard dark to light layering techniques.

I hope to finish the remaining five of this band this evening, they are 90% done now but the battle with the light for photos will be lost before they are finally completed.

Staying in Mexico, following on from the film drama I found on YouTube of the Battle of Puebla a couple of weeks back I came across this Discovery Channel documentary, 5 de Mayo - Un Dia de Gloria.

Again it is in Spanish but does feature lots of battle re-enactments showing a variety of the colourful uniforms from the conflict.




Maximilian Affair painted running total:

12/26 Mexican foot
9/25 French foot

(FFL Month) “We’ll Die Before We Surrender!”

I managed to finish the first batch of Foundry Camerone French Foreign Legionnaires last night. To make the process easier I split the 25 models I have into three smaller batches with the intention of completing each in turn.

The models are truly wonderful and ooze character and whilst I would not use the expression "they were a joy to paint" (painting is not that much fun!) they did paint up nicely.

To add a splash of colour I decided to paint a few of the kepis uncovered and this helps avoid them looking too much like the much beloved classic 1908 Legionnaire in Algeria.

Researching the uniforms was interesting. Many illustrations have the Legion fighting in red trousers like the line infantry (indeed this was regulation) but the Osprey book states that the Legion still wore their old white North African trousers (white trousers were worn in summer anyhow). I decided to go white so, if and when. I raise some regular infantry, they will have red trousers and that will make them easier to identify on the table.

Maximilian Affair painted running total: 

9/26 Mexican foot
9/25 French foot

(FFL Month) The Frustrating Scale Creep Dilemma

A little while back I picked up a few blisters from Foundry's Maximilian Affair miniatures to help expand the Camerone set from the same manufacturer that I am currently painting. Amongst them was a blister of Contra Guérillas however as with most packs in this range there was just one sculpt duplicated eight times.

This is a major irritation with Foundry's line, especially as it means that there is no variation of pose and there are no command figures. Enter Gringo 40 with their new 28mm scale Maximilian Affair range including... Contra Guérillas and command figures! Unfortunately there are only two other ranks poses but between the two manufacturers it seemed a small force of the colourful Contras in 28mm scale could be raised.

My order from Gringo 40 arrived yesterday, unfortunately they are massive compared to the Foundry miniatures... Further, upon checking them, the Foundry Maximilian figures are actually smaller than their Camerone ones which seem to fall somewhere between the the original Perry sculpted Foundry and the new Gringo 40.

This has on the horns of a dilemma. The Gringo figures are just about compatible with the Camerone set. I picked up some of their Mexican infantry and they fit in with the Militia I have already painted (ok, they are slightly larger but they work). Unfortunately neither range has enough Contras for a reasonable sized and varied unit (and of course now I want a Contra unit!)

I'm also now not sure what to do with the remaining original Foundry blisters (a mix of Imperial and Republican). I bought I'm thinking of experimenting by raising the smaller figures by 1mm with a coin between the figure base and slotta base and hoping the paintjob helps disguise the slightness of the original Foundry miniatures.

Whatever it is very frustrating that given the limited amount of 28mm scale miniatures available for this conflict, that here is such as size difference between them...

(FFL Month) The Battle of Puebla

Looking for some online uniform information on Republican forces during the Maximilian Affair I came across part of a Mexican drama entitled Batalla 5 de Mayo about the Battle of Puebla, when the Republicans defeated the French interventionist army.

I won't vouch for the accuracy of the uniforms but the film does have a nice feel to it, even if I couldn't understand most of it (my Spanish is very poor). It is quite inspiring and it is a shame that the war is such a poor relative of the War Between the States across the Rio Grande from a wargames point of view (the uniforms are much nicer!)

(FFL Month) Mexican Republican State Militia

The first miniatures out of the Foundry Maximilian Affair set I decided to paint were the Republican State Militia who, in their traditional peasant dress, could easily double as Guerillas or Bandits.

I used the same approach as the Artizan Legionnaire test piece, undercoating white, coating with Soft Tone dip, then painting layers on top. I think it has worked quite well.

The rest of the Mexicans in the set are dismounted irregular cavalry in their vaquero costume and I am busily researching colour schemes (various shades of brown seem popular). In lieu of the lack of regular Republican infantry I have placed a small order into Gringo 40 for some.

Maximilian Affair painted running total: 

9/26 Mexican foot
0/25 French foot

February is... French Foreign Legion Month!

I was planning to make February WWII month but it looks like I may be extra busy on the work front so I have decided to focus on painting up a few things French Foreign Legion related instead.

First off there is my Maximilian Affair miniatures that have languished unpainted for far too long now. Given the success I had in painting over the soft tone dip with my sample legionnaire I am hopeful I can paint up both the French and Mexican sides within the month.

If that goes well I will endeavour to finish off the remaining legionnaires for the Redcoats on Mars project, AND if that goes well I have a stretch target in the form of some WW2 legionnaires suitable for the Vichy Armée du Levant.

 So as they say in the Legion, "marche ou crève!"

Légendes Du Le Vieil Ouest

Rummaging through my drawers(!) I came across a small pile of unpainted Foundry miniatures that I'd received as a present from SWMBO many moons ago. The miniatures had an interesting history as they were originally sculpted by Mike Owen as part of a training exercise when he started at Foundry and not intended for production, however, they were so good Foundry made them available for a limited time despite them not being (IIRC) to "Foundry standard" (or more accurately Foundry style, ie. they oozed character!). The set was based on the legendary Battle of Camarón during the Maximilian Affair and comprised of about 30 Mexicans and 30 French Foreign Legionnaires.

As with many things I hadn't done anything beyond basing the miniatures up and I had been pondering, given the nature of the Mexican costumes in particular, dipping them along with some Indian Mutiny figures one day in the future...

Thought hadn't gone much beyond this until the Warhammer Historical sale, when in a moment of inspiration/weakness, I decided to buy Legends of the Old West and the Alamo supplement to kick start this project. Given that I really like the LOTR core system LOTOW uses and the fact that I don't need any more miniatures (well not fttb...) which in themselves should be easy to paint, Camarón might well get moved up the lead mountain and onto the painting table soon...

Because It Matters (...To Me)

I must confess that, like most wargamers, I have a tendency to get a bit "fixated" on some subjects, especially historically accuracy. Unlike most wargamers I tend to do this on non-historical subjects! :-)

Take VSF for example, most gamers don't worry too much about it as a genre, it's really just an excuse to stick Zulu Wars 24th Foot on the same table as some steampunk toys and have some fun. Not me, nope I have to have some degree of historical accuracy to the bits that are historical, I actually cringe at VSF games set in England using the same 24th Foot in their white helmets.

This does lead me down long diversions as the crusade becomes compulsive as I hunt out historical tidbits (good job I love history!). Today for example I was writing a Land Ironclads scenario, a fictional battle set in the (alternate) Maximilian Rebellion but I had to include historically accurate units from the Belgian Legion and Austrian Volunteer Corps (and the Juarista opposition) which necessitated a lot of time, some Google-fu and copious use of Google Translate (there are lots of useful foreign language websites a click away from understanding!). I did find a fascinating (German) website on the Austrian Volunteer Corps (as well as these nice period illustrations from another site) and can sleep easy tonight knowing that the artillery unit in the scenario is accurate in that it is a mountain gun battery, which the Austrians had, not a regular field artillery battery, which they didn't!

I know, get a life... :-)